Windows 7: Windows 7 Unable to detect SATA Harddrive

Hey, I recently embarked on the journey of building my first custom PC. Everything was going well, until I hit a speed bump of installing Windows 7 64 bit. So like usual I boot from the CD drive, and stick Windows 7 in. When it gets to the point where I'm going to install, it is unable to find my SATA drive to install Windows 7 on. It then asks me to "locate drivers." So it gives me an option to browse, and when it does so I put in the disk that came with my mobo, but it's unable to find any drivers. I tried downloading drivers from my motherboard's web site, sticking them on an external HD, and locating them from there, but that still didn't work.

I checked in my BIOS, and my SATA type is under Native IDE. I tried switching it to AHCI, and my HD was no longer detected in the BIOS, switched back to Native IDE and it found it again. Also, Onchip IDE Channel is set to Disabled, and Onchip SATA Control is set to Enabled, does this matter any?



I was wondering,though, is it possible that if I set the SATA type to AHCI, move the SATA cables into ports so that the drive is recognized by my BIOS, use the AHCI drivers I downloaded, Windows 7 will detect it?

Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128392
HD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136218
Drivers I downloaded: http://www.giga-byte.com/Support/Mot...3257#anchor_os

The "Onchip IDE" may be your problem. I would enable it and see if that's the problem. It should be enabled by default unless it's for another controller. I have not looked at your board but since you don't have back panel esata, it sound like that should be enabled.

The very first thing you need to do is "load optimized defaults" on your board. That should enable your controllers. If that does not work, I would enable that "Onchip IDE"

Also, If you can get it running in AHCI and install Windows.....you should be able to switch back and forth to IDE or AHCI.

Well I tried loading optimized defaults, and it still did not work.

I'm a little confused about the AHCI, though. In lamens terms, what is the difference from IDE to AHCI? Will it make a large difference in my computer's performance in any way?

EDIT: Something I noticed in basic CMOS when I have the SATA type set to Native IDE.

I see a list similar to this:
IDE Channel Master 0 [None]
IDE Channel Slave 0 [None]
IDE Channel Master 1 [None]
IDE Channel Slave 1 [None]
IDE Channel Master 2 [WD HD]
IDE Channel Slave 2 [None]
IDE Channel Master 3 [DVD Drive]
IDE Channel Slave 3 [None]

Does the fact that My HD is detected under Master 2 cause any problem? I attmempted plugging it into another SATA port (it's in 0 right now) and it didn't help. Plugging it into 4 moved it up to 1, plugging it into 2 didn't move it at all.

AHCI is "Advanced Host Controller Inteface" if I remember right. It's just a newer way of connecting a SATA device.

IDE should work fine. It looks like the drive is being detected. I wonder if you have a bad drive....it's a possibility.

It sound like you may have driver issues. Maybe someone with a little more experience with this problem can help you. I was going to suggest you switch SATA ports, but if you have done this, it sounds like you need more help than I can give you. If I think of anything I will post back. Good luck.

Alright, thanks for what little help you could provide, any is appreciated.

Doing a little deeper google search I was able to find a way of partitioning/formatting my drive with an XP disk, which I'm currently doing. I'll report back when it's done.

Use a third party Windows 7 compatible partitioning software like free Partition Wizard.

XP formatting is not compatible with Windows 7.

You can also use Diskpart commands from the Windows 7 DVD Repair console Command Line.

Boot DVD>Repair console>Recovery tools, open Command Line, type:

DISKPART
LIST DISK
SELECT DISK # (for Windows 7 disk)
clean
create partition primary
select partition 1
assign letter=c:
active
format
exit